Brigham Young University College of Family, Home, & Social Sciences

How Has Childhood Changed? New BYU Course Answers That Question

How do you think childhood has changed in the last fifty years? Over the total course of U.S. history?

A new course that will be offered this fall, Growing Up in America: A History of Childhood and Youth, will answer that question as well as several others, including:

What political, cultural, and economic forces have changed the way we see childhood and its purpose?

How have children, in turn, influenced society and been agents of change?

What have been the experiences of young people growing up in America?

How do childhood and age function as categories of analysis?

Professor Rebecca DeSchweinitz will teach the course. She says: “The history of childhood is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field of study. In this seminar-style course, we’ll explore the above questions and many more as we examine a range of primary and secondary sources that testify to the importance of children as subjects and actors in America’s past and present.”

Class Details

Hist 390R sec. 3

M-W-F

2:00 – 2:50

DeSchweinitz is the author of several books and chapters on the history of childhood and related fields. They include: